So a skeptic would never make it? A skeptic with good works (altruistic and not selfishly expecting a reward) versus a Believer who trusts that God died and rose from the Dead for Him...yet who may still lead a materialist, mundane life....Do we know which one God favors, if any?
Well, just to compare and contrast. In Judaism, both 'sin' and 'righeousness' is based on ACTIONS, not on belief. There is a story of someone who was NOT Jewish that , because of his actions showed he was righteous, and therefore was allowed to preform the sacrifice of the Red Heifer for the temple.
Since Sin is an ACTION, and not a STATE, babys are born as blank slates, with no inherited sin. Therefore, there is no 'original sin', there is no 'fall' as Christians see it, and there is no need for 'salvation', as defined by the CHristian religion.
Christianity has a debate within it about 'works' vs "faith". This debate does not exist in Judaism.
Since both 'sin' and 'righeousness' are based on actions, there is no 'grace'. So, when it comes to the Jewish religion, it is not FAITH that matters, it is ACTIONS.